When Lin Jingge returned home, she found that there was a child of about six or seven years old in her house, sitting obediently on a bench in the yard.
"Grandma, where did this child come from?"
"Widow Liu next door asked me to watch the child for a while." Grandma Lin rubbed the child's head and said, "This child is very well-behaved, he doesn't cry or fuss."
The girl gave Grandma Lin a sweet smile. Old people love children, and seeing that smile, Grandma Lin felt her heart melt.
Lin Jingge also found the child adorable. Seeing that the child's gaze was fixed on the dark purple grapes, Lin Jingge picked a bunch and gave it to the child: "Want some?"
The girl looked at the tempting grapes and immediately wanted to nod, but remembering her mother's words that she couldn't take things from others for free, she nodded halfway and then shook her head.
Lin Jingge noticed the child's subtle actions and felt that the child was more and more sensible.
She placed the grapes into the girl's hand: "Eat them."
"I have no money." The girl pushed the grapes away. "My mother told me not to take other people's things."
"No money needed." Lin Jingge gently pinched the girl's thin cheek. Perhaps the girl didn't eat well on weekdays, as she was skin and bones. "You eat."
How could a child resist such temptation? It was her limit to refuse once or twice. She secretly glanced at Lin Jingge several times, finally swallowed hard, and accepted the grapes, but did not eat them. She just held the grapes in her palm.
Why aren't you eating?
"I want to save it for when my mother comes back, is that okay?" The girl looked at Lin Jingge expectantly.
This girl is so well-behaved, so well-behaved it's heartbreaking. Lin Jingge replied, "Okay."
It was almost noon, but Widow Liu still hadn't returned.
"Grandma, did Widow Liu say when she'll be back?"
"She didn't say anything. After handing the child to me, she left in a hurry, only saying that I should watch the child for a while." Granny Lin obviously didn't expect that Widow Liu would not return for so long.
Widow Liu did not return, so Lin Jingge brought the girl to the table for dinner.
The widow Liu did not return until evening, and the girl, who had been quiet, became somewhat restless.
"Sister, why hasn't my mother come back yet?" Inside Lin Jingge's room, the girl was still sitting by the door.
It was already late, and Grandma Lin had fallen asleep. The girl was being cared for by Lin Jingge.
"Your mother must have been held up by something. Go to sleep first, and maybe she'll come to pick you up when you wake up tomorrow," Lin Jingge could only comfort her in this way.
She didn't know how to put a child to sleep. Fortunately, the girl was well-behaved enough to take off her shoes and climb into bed by herself.
As the night deepened and the surroundings quieted down, a series of urgent knocks suddenly sounded on the door in the middle of the night.
Lin Jingge quickly stepped forward to open the door, and what came into view was a bloody hand.
Seeing Liu the widow lying on the ground covered in blood, Lin Jingge was shocked and quickly went to help her up.
Grandma Lin, who sleeps next door, also opened her door and came over.
"Mother!" The girl on the bed burst into tears when she saw her mother covered in blood.
She scrambled and crawled to reach Widow Liu as quickly as possible.
The girl had been fleeing with her parents since she was a child, and she knew what being covered in blood meant; her father had bled to death.
Hearing her daughter's voice, Widow Liu regained some strength. She leaned on Lin Jingge to prop herself up and knelt before her: "I don't have long to live. My only worry is my daughter. Please, please take her in."
Widow Liu had a large hole in her stomach, as if she had been pierced by some kind of monster. The wound was also somewhat black, indicating that she had been poisoned.
She originally had no chance of escaping, but thinking of her daughter, she risked her life to roll down the mountain and ran here with gritted teeth.
She was weak and swaying, but she kept kowtowing to Lin Jingge: "I beg you to take in my daughter. I know this request is unreasonable, but I have no other choice. My daughter is so young. What will she do if I leave!"
"Get up first." Lin Jingge stopped the widow Liu from kowtowing and intended to help her to bed.
"Mother, don't die." The girl sobbed, kneeling in front of Widow Liu, her thin hands clutching Widow Liu's sleeve tightly.
Perhaps because she was crying so hard, she choked and started coughing violently again.
Widow Liu took a flower from her bosom and placed it in the girl's arms. She wiped away the girl's tears with her hand: "Yan Yan, don't cry."
A pair of bloody hands wiped away the girl's tears, which mingled with blood. Bloody marks were also left on the girl's face.
"Yan Yan, you must be a good girl and listen to your sister Mu from now on. Mother is a little tired and won't be able to stay with you anymore." With her last breath, Widow Liu breathed her last and then breathed her last. The hand that had been wiping away her daughter's tears fell limply.
"Mother—" Liu Yan ignored the tears blurring her vision and grabbed the widow's shoulders with both hands, shaking her desperately: "Mother, wake up, Yan Yan will be good, look at Yan Yan!"
Lin Jingge, who was supporting Widow Liu, felt a pang of pity upon seeing this scene.
Perhaps because she never heard Lin Jinge agree to adopt Liu Yan before she died, Liu the widow's eyes remained open even after she breathed her last.
She desperately fled back from the mountain, thinking only about her daughter's future the whole way. She admitted that she had deliberately, even despicably, died at the Mu family's house, hoping they would raise her daughter for her, but she really had no other choice.
Lin Jingge put Widow Liu on the ground and looked at Liu Yan, who was crying and shouting. The child seemed unable to believe that her mother was gone. She was desperately shaking Widow Liu's hand, trying to get some response from her.
However, everyone present knew that Widow Liu would never respond.
"Sigh..." Granny Lin, standing at the doorway, let out a heavy sigh.
Seeing her child crying desperately while clinging to her mother, Lin Jinge was at a loss. She didn't know how to comfort people, so in the end she could only pat Liu Yan on the shoulder and tell her to cheer up.
Liu Yan held onto her mother tightly, refusing to let go, and the flower that the widow Liu had stuffed into her arms fell to the ground.
"Oh, what's this...?" Granny Lin stepped forward, picked up the flower from the ground, and examined it in her hand.
The flowers in front of her looked very familiar, but Grandma Lin couldn't quite place them.
The flower was well protected, with five large red petals. The whole flower was as big as a human palm, and the stem was slippery with no branches or leaves.
The weather was hot, and the body couldn't be left for too long. That night, Lin Jingge cleaned up the bloodstains and went to buy a coffin as soon as it was light.
Liu Yan cried until her eyes were red and swollen. In the end, perhaps because she had cried all her tears, she could no longer cry and silently stayed by the widow Liu's side.
Grandma Lin informed the village chief about this, and the grave was arranged and the burial took place that same day.
Widow Liu didn't have much money left; her most valuable possessions were her house and the embroidery she owned.
Originally, all these things belonged to Liu Yan. After Lin Jingge adopted Liu Yan, she took care of these things on her behalf. There was nothing wrong with that, but when counting Liu Yan's money, two spirit stones were found.
When the items were being inventoried, the village chief and many women who loved watching the excitement were present. Upon seeing the spirit stone, everyone's eyes lit up with envy.
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